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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Redroger on Saturday 06 April 24 12:55 BST (UK)
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This practice has taken place since at least the Crimean War against Russia in the 1850s, examples Sebastapol and Alma (cities) used as forenames, and possibly the wars against France in the first decades of the 19th century, examples Nelson and Wellington (commanders) .
I am interested in unusual listings, early, late; unusual names, unusual locations. What can you find, discus them on here.
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An ancestor was given the middle name Nelson in 1798 following
the Battle of the Nile Delta.
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Talavera Vernon Anson baptised 9th Jan 1810 St George, Hanover Square, Westimnster, parents George and Frances Anson. His Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talavera_Vernon_Anson?wprov=sfti1 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talavera_Vernon_Anson?wprov=sfti1)
He was the son of General Sir George Anson, who fought at the Battle of Talavera, 1809.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Anson_(British_Army_officer,_born_1769)?wprov=sfti1 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Anson_(British_Army_officer,_born_1769)?wprov=sfti1)
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I don't suppose Nile Rogers was named after the Battle of the Nile? :D
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I don't suppose Nile Rogers was named after the Battle of the Nile?
Probably. Maybe his parents were history buffs.
I think the name that has stood the test of time must be Florence named after
Florence Nightingale hero of the Crimean war.
Still in use today.
I've also seen middle names of Mafeking & Verdun.
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Mafeking - just put the forename of Mafeking into FreeBMD to see rather a large number of births registered in June quarter 1900 - both male and female. :)
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I have a great aunt with the middle name Mons.
In a similar vein but not a battle or commander but a 2c1r born July 1885 in Hull named Edward Salcha Wray. His father was a Humber pilot who had been knocked overboard into the Humber in Feb 1885 by the boom of the Norwegian ship Salcha and drowned. Slightly macabre.
Pheno
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The Boar war is a good example of how battles and Military men can influence baby names.
The year 1900 saw nearly 50 children named Mafeking registered in England & Wales, split between the sexes, and some with the additional name Baden after Colonel Robert Baden- Powell. This initial flurry of interest soon died down, as the following year there were only 2 "Mafeking" births registered .
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Mafeking
There was a similar pattern to the popularity of Ladysmith as a first name; 24 in 1900 registered in England & Wales, then very few afterwards.
There were too many children called Baden, Baden Powell, Baden Cecil, (after the prime ministers son Lord Edward Cecil) and Baden Kitchener to count.There was a little peak of Kitchener's in 1902, named for Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener.
The popularity of Kitchener as a first name rose considerably in 1914 with the start of the Great War, as Kitchener had become Secretary of State for War, but quickly waned followed his death in 1916.Lord Kitchener's father, b. 1805 had the middle name Horatio, presumably named for Admiral Nelson. After all, the battle of Trafalgar took place in October 1805. So the son was named for both his father and Nelson!
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1921 census - 151 instances of Mafeking as a forename. 1911 census - 181.
AND
1901 - 141
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The Boar war is a good example of how battles and Military men can influence baby names.
That would be the Boer war! ;)
Dutch/Afrikaans for farmer.
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Oops, of course I do know that! :-[
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Nelson and Wellington were popular given names amongst the Travelling community.
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This family has amused me in the past
1851 Richmond Yorkshire
Mark Anthony Dempster head
Ann wife
Mary. Daughter
Julius Caesar son
Marcus Brutus. Son
Jessie. Daughter
Augustus Caesar. Son
Piece 2381
Folio 146
Page number 22
Keeping the Roman theme going, by 1861 they had added Cicero to the family.
I am sure they could have come up with some military related female names if they had tried a bit harder. Hippolyta for one springs to mind.
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I've seen Verdun as well.
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Have Inkerman as a middle name for a relative
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A quite long lasting forename is Glyndwr, over 5000 on freebmd. Taken from Owain Glyndwr the welsh leader who fought against the english in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. One of my uncles had this forename. Another had the middle name Dorrien from General Horace Smith-Dorrien under whom his father, (my grandfather), had served in WW I.
Ray
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If you run out of inspiration, you can always use the rank of your hero. Thus there was
Births Sep 1850
Cook Captain Bury 21 314
Births Mar 1840
Nelson Admiral Wigan 21 817
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I found a baptism in Sussex in 1806 of a Horatio (cannot remember the surname) but the middle name was of course - Nelson.
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A couple of warrior queens to add to the list
Births Sep 1865
Walley Boadecia Wolstanton 6b 123
Births Jun 1875
Gradwell Boadecia Manchester 8d 334
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Looks like there were 680 babies given the name Kitchener in Ontario, mostly as middle names, and most of them were born during WW1. There is a city named Kitchener in Ontario, its name changed from its original of Berlin, in 1916.
Found an Alexandrina Douglas Haig Hill born in 1916 in Ontario - in the town of Wellington!
Quite a few babies given the names Douglas Haig.
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Not always what it seems:
I have a Nelson middle name, born 1848. But the first name of his grandfather was Nelson, he was born in 1768. Admiral Horatio Nelson was only ten years old in 1768!
However I do have a lady with the middle name Verdun born in 1916.
and a conflict named after a person -
The War of Jenkins' Ear
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Jenkins%27_Ear
Tony
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I have a distant cousin with the middle name Messines.
Also have a line who remembers a brother killed in WW1 who repeatedly use his name to this day. Those children are told about him as they grow older. Personally I think that is more appropriate than naming after commanders.
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Since females seem to be under-represented in this thread take a look at Pretoria. FreeBMD say there were 496 births of that name in 1900, compared with 1 in the years 1890-95
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I have one in my tree born 1900.